WebP compression — Troubleshooting

Worked example

WebP problems are a lost animation, pale halos on edges, the original returned, a rejected file or smeared text.

If an animated WebP turned into one still frame, that is how the tool works: it draws the image onto a canvas and writes a single picture. Use a source that is a still image, or keep the animated original and do not compress it here. This cannot be fixed by a setting.

Pale halos around a transparent cut-out usually come from a quality value that is too low, or from a source that was already flattened against white and then given transparency. Raise the slider to 85 or more and retest on a dark backdrop. Smeared small text on a graphic means the same: increase the value, or deliver a PNG for that image.

If the original comes back, the status line says it was kept because the re-encode was not smaller, which is common when the WebP was already tuned or you used a value near 95. Choose a lower number such as 70 to 78. If the destination rejects a .webp file, convert a copy to JPG or PNG with the Convert tool. Renaming the extension does not change the encoding.

An image above 64 million pixels is refused with a message to crop or resize first, and a source that is not JPG, PNG or WebP is exported as PNG, not WebP, which can come out heavier. When a WebP will not open in an older viewer, try another application before assuming the file is damaged.

WebP still image

WebP still export

If a file is accepted in one place but rejected in another, the format is the issue, not the quality.